Photo: daily mail
Horrifying and preventable.
By Shannon Ullman — Written on Apr 11, 2017
Don’t drink and drive. We’ve all heard it before. However, this Florida man took his intoxicated jaunt a step further by having sex in the driver’s seat of his moving car.
Alcohol and sex have been known to produce pretty dismal scenarios, and for 33-year old Matthew Notebeart, this was absolutely the case. On March 9th, 2014, Matthew killed his wife Amanda after crashing into a canal bank while having sex in a moving car.
It was the first night out that the couple had had since Amanda gave birth to their youngest child. Matthew had bought his wife tickets to a concert for Valentine’s Day and it was on their way back from it that they had the fatal crash off a dirt road at 12 AM.
Authorities found that Matthew’s blood alcohol level that night was more than two times the legal limit and that he also had marijuana in his system. To make matters even worse, the couple were reportedly naked and having sex in the seat while Matthew was driving. They weren’t wearing any seatbelts, causing Amanda to hit her head on the windshield and die on impact.
Recently appearing in a Palm Beach County court, Matthew was sentenced to five years in prison by Judge Laura Johnson.
Many of their friends say that Amanda would have never wanted to see her husband behind bars, but Amanda’s family begs to differ. A huge strain was put on the family relationship and Amanda’s father fully blames Matthew for the incident saying, "You had a responsibility to get your wife home safely."
In February, Mathew pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and driving under the influence, causing injury to another person. All of this was part of a deal in which prosecutors dropped the DUI manslaughter charge.He faced a charge that requires at least ten years in jail but his lawyer is working to get him out on probation so he can help raise his two children, aged twelve and three.
After the trial and efforts by his lawyer, Matthew was given a 5-year jail sentence, 2 years of probation, 200 hours of community service, DUI school, a license suspension of 10 years and random drug and alcohol tests.
According to Judge Johnson, this was not his first offense.
"This isn’t your first chance. You’ve been to jail before, you’ve been on probation... You failed your wife, you failed your children and you failed all your family that is here today," she said.
According to officials who described the scene of the accident, "No evidence of braking was detected." The report also said that the car was "airborne for approximately 30 feet" before it crashed into the bank.
The officials also described Matthew's appearance, saying they "observed signs of impairment" on the man including "red glassy eyes, a strong odor of unknown alcoholic beverage... and a flushed face."
While the whole thing seems pretty reckless, it sounds like this couple was just trying to have a good time after having their baby. It all seems pretty sad. So, be careful out there guys and never have sex and drive, especially after drinking.
